Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket PlayersWill Kuldeep Yadav sit out the second Test?
With Sri Lanka planning to pick more left-handers, India may be inclined to hand off-spinner Saransh Jain a debut
Mumbai: The Galle Test match was Kuldeep Yadav’s first outside India for 44 months. His last outing outside the sub-continent was back in 2019 at Sydney, when then head coach Ravi Shastri famously, now infamously declared the left-arm unorthodox as India’s No. 1 overseas spinner.
Considering the staggered opportunities given to him by repeated team managements—19 Tests in his 10th year—it is evident Kuldeep is seen as a conditions-specific spinner. Best suited to play at home when tailored pitches encourage playing three, sometimes four spinners. Akin to India playing the third pacer only outside the sub-continent.
Therefore, it would not be a major surprise if Kuldeep, following his below-par showing at Galle, is asked to make way for off-spinner Saransh Jain in the Colombo Test match starting Sunday.
Sri Lanka is likely to go with a left-hand heavy batting lineup, having added Kamil Mishara and Sahan Arachchige to their squad in addition to the impressive Sonal Dinusha and Niroshan Dickwella. Indian spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule said a final call would be taken after the pitch preparations were complete, but did not rule out the possibility.
Some experts have questioned captain Shubman Gill’s use of Kuldeep at Galle, citing a lack of confidence in the senior spinner. Kuldeep, as the third spinner, is being left to make the most of the soft Kookabura. That’s only partly true.
In the first innings, Kuldeep came in immediately after the new ball spell by the pacers and got a boost with an early wicket too. As the match wore on, Gill saw merit in bowling his orthodox left-arm spinners more. In the second innings, India was chasing the result and fighting the weather, with little room for hand-holding a bowler.
In effect, for a majority of the match, Kuldeep’s spells came with the softer ball, ill-suited for his relatively slower average speeds. Ravindra Jadeja feels at home with such a task while Manav Suthar was able to successfully make the adjustment, pushing his speeds above 90 kph and without losing control.
“Kuldeep has been bowling extremely well. He had to play a different role in the last Test match and he tried his best to adapt and execute,” Bahutule said, adding that the pitch got slower and slower and that Kuldeep was trying to bowl quicker under instructions.
There will come a time when the Indian think will have to closely examine
whether pushing Kuldeep to bowl higher speeds impacts his overall effectiveness. If it compromises his inherent strength to flight the ball and hampers his ability to spin it in either direction, he may be best left to bowl at speeds he is comfortable with. If that doesn’t stand the test at the highest level, he would be forced out of the attack anyway.
Stepping up?
Kuldeep was expected to take over as the frontline spinner after R Ashwin’s retirement. That assumption may have been partly driven by
the visual appeal of seeing a wrist spinner succeed. The emergence of Suthar - on debut, he outshone Kuldeep against Afghanistan at New Chandigarh - provides India with a credible alternative.
In theory, Kuldeep continues to get the backing. “For me, Kuldeep has been a fabulous bowler,” said Bahutule. “Sometimes, the wickets are slow and the ball operates differently for wrist spinners on certain surfaces.”
In practice, India more often than not takes the pragmatic approach of backing the finger spin all-rounder in away Tests.
At SSC, the choice is between two spinners, both who deal in flight and guile, but test different edges of the bat. One is a domestic veteran pushing for a late Test initiation and another a wrist spinner with a proven ODI record, but one who can’t quite settle into the rhythms of Test cricket. With competition heating up and a five-Test home series against Australia slated for next year, the chosen one can ill-afford to fail.
